Strengthening the Clinical Laboratory with Simulation-Enhanced Interprofessional Education

INTRODUCTION In 1998, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published the report, To Err is Human, in which they stated that up to 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors.1 A more recent study, published in 2013, estimates that preventable adverse events contribute to nearly 210,000 premature deaths per year.2 The body of literature on patient safety and error prevention continues to grow with much of this literature focusing on effective communication and teamwork.3-5 In the report, Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare, the IOM recommends increasing collaboration among medical professionals to reduce diagnostic error. Working in interprofessional teams is also encouraged in the educational realm.6 Graduating students who are knowledgeable about and proficient in interprofessional teamwork and communication should be a priority in healthcare education programs, including Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS). Simulation-enhanced interprofessional education is one way to promote and practice effective communication and teamwork. Interprofessional Education Interprofessional education (IPE) is defined as people from different professions learning about, from, and with each other.7 This differs from multiprofessional education, where students learn side by side, but interaction is not required. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) was formed to promote and encourage interprofessional learning. They developed four core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice to use as a framework for activity development and curriculum design in education (Table 1).8 The goal is to transform healthcare education and, in turn, have graduates of these programs change and strengthen the quality of patient care in our healthcare systems. As laboratory science students progress through… ABBREVIATIONS: IPEC – Interprofessional Education Collaborative, IPE - Interprofessional education, CLS – Clinical laboratory scientist